Package



y 9 o. E. SEIIFERTH 2,379,934

PACKAGE Filed Oct. 8. 1941 Patented July 10, 1945 PACKAGE oscar E.Seiferth, Chicago, 111., assig'nor to Oscar Mayer & 00., Inc., Chicago,111., a corporation of Illinois Application October 8 1941, Serial No.414,088

3 Claims. (01. 99-174) This invention relates to a package, andprimarily to a food package. In the form illustrated herewith it isprimarily applied to a package of sausages, although it may be appliedto many other sorts of articles. One object is to provide a package ofany length desired by means of which a number of articles are detachablysecured together. Another object is to provide such a package soarranged that advertising or label matter is secured not only to thepackage as a whole but to individual articles when'theyare separatedfrom each other. A further object is to provide a packagein which a ringor band is fastened about each article and remains so fastened when theindividual articles are separated. In the particular form shown, wheresausages are secured together, each has a band about it which carries atrade- -mark, a label, or advertising matter, and even when theindividual sausages are separated, a band remains about each one. It isan object of the invention to produce such a structure and such apackage. Other objects will appear from time to time throughout thespecification and claims. e

The invention is illustrated more or less diagrammatically in theaccompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a package with parts broken away.

Figure 2 is a bottom plan view. I

Figure 3 is a longitudinal section take through the package of Figure 1at line 3-3.

Like parts are designated by like characters throughout thespecification and drawing.

In the particular form shown, a number of sausages I are bandedtogether. The package comprises a lower member 2, which has upon it anadhesive 3. This adhesive is preferably heat responsive, so that whenheated it will adhere. As shown, the adhesive extends over the entiresurface of the member 2, but the invention is not limited to thisfeature, and the adhesive might be applied in limited areas so that anecessary band can be formed only wherever required.

An upper member 4 is associated with the lower member 2 and has adhesiveS'applied to it. This adhesive may be like the adhesive 3 and may besimilar in extent to it, extending over the entire surface of the member4 or being applied only in limited areas where necessary.

In the completed article, the upper and lower bands 2 and 4 are sealedor bonded together between the articles at areas or portions 8 and thusa partof the band 4 is wrapped around each sausage or other article, andis thus formed into a loop shape part I.

Intermediate the edges of the bonded portions 6 are rows of perforations8. Preferably at the edges of the strips these perforations areenlarged, as at 9--9, so that they extend across the edge of thecombined strip formed of the members 2 and l, and thus tearing'is easilystarted at the proper point. The tear begins at the enlarged perforation9 and extends through the smaller perforations 8.

As shown, only six articles are in the package, but an almost unlimitednumber might be associated together in a single package. The numbershown, however, is sufficient to illustrate the nature of the packageand the arrangement of the parts which make it up.

When the sausages or other articles which are fastened together in thepackage are separated, each individual article retains a band, the teartaking place at the perforations B, 9, and each article retaining aboutitself one loop portion 1 and the adjacent and associated portion of thestrip 2, which with the cooperating portion 1 makes up a complete bandaround the article,

so that even when the individual articles are separated from thepackage, they still retain the identifying band itself, and'whatevermarking maybe printed upon it. This package may be made by hand or byspecial tools, or by :a machine designed for the purpose, but thepackage as shown and claimed herewith is not limited to any particularmethod or means for producing it, nor is it limited to any particulararticle or particularmeans for securing it together. While adhesive hasbeen shown, it may be of any desired material, and in fact, the adhesivemaybe omitted and the two strips may be fastened together by the shapeof the perforations themselves. It is well known that two strips ofmaterial may be fastened together by mating perforations, by whichmethod a part of one strip is forced or shaped with the other strip orinto or through it, so that they are. bound together,

and this type of perforation might be used with out an adhesive.

The invention is therefore not' limited to any particular means ormethod of fastening the two strips together, nor is it limited to anarrangement in which each article is enclosed by itself.

A package might be made up with two or more articles in a single loop.

Although I have shown an operative form of my invention, it will berecognized that many changes in the form, shape, and arrangement ofadhesive is used, there may be one single strip of adhesive between eacharticle, but for some'purposes it is desirable to have two separatedstrips of adhesive between each article, and in that case theperforations will usually lie between those two separated strips. r

It will be understood from the foregoing that the new packagingstructure, in addition to holding the sausages compactly together sideby side in a straight row, bands them individually with more or lesssnugly encircling loop portions, which 'loop portions are formed fromthe unbonded sec tions of the top and bottom strips and remain intact onthe sausages after the bonded web portions 6 connecting such loopportions have been severed.

Although the sausages are held by the intervening web portions in closeproximity to each other (preferably in sidewise abutment along the.median plane of the package as'shown in Fig. 3 of the drawing) when thepackage is laid flat, the.

web portions 6 themselves are of considerable length and are located,not between the loop portions at their points of closest approach, butrather in substantially the plane of the bottom of the package.

The web portions 6, by reason of the substantiallv complete closeencirelement of the sausages by the loop portions, are of sumcientlength not only to provide ample room for the perforations withoutdanger of such perforations being so close to the joints in the loopportions as to weaken the latter, but also to afford appreciable stockwhich may be grasped at both sides of the perforations in tearing throuh the latter. The package can obviously be picked up and curleddownwardly into a compact roll for wrapping, and any one of the sausageswhen the package is raised from its flat position can be rather widelyseparated from the adjoining sausage in order to expose the normallyconcealed connecting web and give ready access to the web for graspingthe latter at opposite sides of the perforations in tearing the sausagesapart. When the sausages are torn apart in this manner, the loopportions will, of course,

remain thereon as identifying bands.

The perforations themselves might be of many types. For some purposesthe perforations might be completely omitted, and the paper notched atits edges to initiate tearing, or even this may be spoken of a single ora double row or strip of addouble line of adhesive without perforations,or a double line of adhesive with perforations. Where I have used theflord adhesive, any fastening 1 means is to be understood as within themeaning 0f the language and within the scope of my invention.

-In general, the bands} and 4 inay be of the same width and bothrelatively flexible.

may, howe irer, be of different widths, one broader The;

2,370,934. I thanthe other, and they may be relatively inflexible. Oneobvious embodiment of the invention is that in. which the lower member!is a card or card-board piece and is ,stifier and of greater width thanthe band 4. Where in-the claims, the holding means are referred to as"bands," that language is to be taken as including holding members ofvarying degrees of flexibility and rigidity, and of different widths. Inthis sense, therefore, if the lower member were a card and the uppermember a band, the expression bands" is to'be considered as describingboth that arrangement and bands.

' Iclaim:

1. A composite package and individual banding means for link-typesausages, which includes a generally flat flexiblestrip, a plurality ofsau-s sages arranged side by side, approximately in an arrangement oftwo flexible sidewise abutment with each other on said-strip, andgenerally perpendicular to the length of the strip, the length of thesausages substantially exceeding the width of the strip, the strip, whenthe package is. completed, being generally tangential to the "sausages,a second strip including portions surrounding and engaging the exteriorof each said sausage throughout a substantial part of the'circumferenceof the sausage, thesausage engaging portions of the second strip formingsharp folds underlying the sausages, the opposite folds along each sausae being spaced sufllciently apart to permit contact of thefirst stripand the sausage, the part of the seeondstrip between the folds alongadjacent sausages being opposed to and secured to thelower strip. thetwo strips being weakened 'alon'gia line of separation intermediate eachpair-of adjacent sausages, the secured portions of the twostrips forminga band about the middle of, each sausage when the sausages areseparated.

' 2. As a new articleof manufacture, a packaging structure by meansof-which a plurality of link-type sausages'are banded and connectedtogether side-by' side in a substantially. straight row; said, packagingstructure being constructed from two strips of sheet material andconsisting of a series ofloop portions formed from spaced sections ofboth strips anda series of intervening web portionsfformed fromcontacting sections of both strips, which contacting'sections aresecured to'each other; the loop portions closely encircling thesausages'and being disposed, when the pack! aging structure is placed ina flat position, with the sides of adjoining loop portions approximatelyin abutment with each other and with the bottoms .of adjoiningloopportions spaced apart from each other; the intervening web portionsbeing located a substantial distance below the approximately abuttingsides of the loop portions at a point adjacent the lower face of thepackaging structure when the latter is placed in a flat position, and

being connected to the spaced apart bottoms of the loop portions; saidweb portions being of substantial length and being weakened along atransverse line intermediate their ends whereby to tear crosswise whenforcibly pulled apart without dis-' rupting the loop portions encirclingthe sausages.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a packaging structure by means ofwhich a plurality of substantially circular link-type sausages are ,in-

dividually banded and connected together sidehv-side in a substantiallystraight row: said packaging structure being constructed from upper andlower strips of thin flexible sheet material and consisting of a seriesof substantially circular loop portions formed from spaced sections ofboth strips and a series of normally fiat but readily flexibleintervening web portions formed from contacting sections of both strips,which contacting sections are adhesively bonded to each other throughoutsubstantially the entire areas of the web portions; the loop portionsclosely en-' spaced apart from each other; the intervening web portionsbeing located a substantial distance below the approximately abuttingsides of the loop portions at a point adjacent the lower face: of thepackaging structure when the latter is placed in a fiat position, andbeing joined beneath the loop portions to the spaced apart bottoms ofthe latter; said web portions being of substantial length and beingperforated along a transverse line interthe loop portions encircling thesausages.

OSCAR E. SEIFERTH.

